Spain's Tommy Robredo lifted his 10th clay-court trophy on Sunday at the Grand Prix Hassan II, edging second seed Kevin Anderson 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-3 in Casablanca. The 30 year old has prevailed in eight of his past nine ATP World Tour finals on the dirt.

Robredo celebrated his first title in more than two years, having last triumphed in February 2011 at the clay event in Santiago. The 72nd-ranked Robredo has worked his way back up the Emirates ATP Rankings after being sidelined with a leg injury for five months in 2012. The former World No. 5 fell as far as No. 471 last season.

“I have been practising very well during a month in Barcelona before coming here,” said Robredo. “I knew that I could play a good tournament here and you never know what can happen. I went match by match and kept winning. Today, I was pretty nervous since this is very important for me. I really wanted to win this.

“I'm very happy to win a title again after my injury. It's just great! Those points will help me a lot in the ranking. The goal is to arrive in Roland Garros in the best form possible. After that I will sit down and have a look at my goals.”

Squaring off against Anderson for the first time, Robredo stepped up in the key moments of the deciding set, saving all four break points he faced, including two at 5-3, 15/40 to claim victory in two hours and 19 minutes. Robredo improved to 9-1 in Casablanca and was making his first appearance in 12 years, when he reached the final on his event debut (l. to Canas).